Two Pakistani smugglers and one Indian were shot down by the Border Security Forces (BSF) after an encounter at the new Sundargarh Border Outpost of the Indo-Pak border. Aseem Bassi reports.

Two Pakistani smugglers and one Indian were shot down by the Border Security Forces (BSF) after an encounter at the new Sundargarh Border Outpost of the Indo-Pak border, late Wednesday night.

Ten kg heroin, one pistol, live cartridges and a plastic pipe normally used by Pakistani smugglers to throw in drugs, were recovered from the encounter area.

The Border Force led by IG of Punjab, Aditya Mishra lodged a strong protest with Pakistani Rangers over the incident. However, Pakistani Rangers reacted indifferently.

The BSF through their night vision devices spotted some movement from across the border at around 1:00 am last night and when the BSF challenged the two Pakistani nationals, they fired on the BSF party.

Reacting to this, the BSF jawans guarding the post also opened fire. In this encounter two Pakistani nationals and one Indian national, who had come to receive the consignment died.

The identity of the deceased is yet to be verified. About 35 rounds were fired by the BSF during this encounter.

IG Mishra, DIG Sanjeev Bhanot and other BSF officials visited the spot on Thursday morning and confirmed the encounter.

Providing details about the incident IG Mishra, said, “Since many smuggling efforts were made from the Pakistani side, the BSF jawans posted at border were highly alert.”

The movement from Pakistani side was spotted through the night vision device and the intruders were also told to stop. But since they opened fire on the jawans, the BSF also had to react, he added.

Answering a question, the IG said, “Certainly it is being seen that the Pakistani smugglers are coming very frequently now and also coming with arms, which is dangerous. But BSF is ready to foil their bids.”

It has happened after quiet sometime that an Indian national has been killed in the shootout at border. Both Pakistanis and the Indian national were using Pakistani SIM cards.

Local police are making efforts to verify the identity of the Indian national.

The BSF claimed that a protest in this regard will also be lodged with Pakistani Rangers in the quarterly meeting of the forces.